Reply to: Cutting out the agent

[aussielong]

And who exactly are you to decide that 20% is too greedy? What are you basing this judgement on? Who exactly are you to accuse another business person of being greedy? as you are the proclaimed righteous individual who seems to be so divinely charged with making judgements about others "greed are for example Tesco more or less greedy because they make a 4000% mark up on cabbages?

I am able to say 20% is too greedy because its my 20% that i've earned. I can't say Tesco's are too greedy for their markup because they are not directly impacting my income - I have a choice to not buy cabbages.

as far as parasites are concerned what percentage of contractors are naive and new to the market? and how many agencies feed off this group of people?

Do you want me to mathematically prove you are a parasite?

What you do is entirely your own business, and I will even add that it is naive of the agent to approach you and hand over such information in what is clearly such a closed market.

Correct.

My point however still stands which is that you are an opportunist which makes you no better than the agents you criticise.

Agent is taking a lot of money from me for doing hardly any work. I am taking my own money back from him. How is that equal? And how can you generalise from that to opportunism.

The fact that you try to justify your own greed by judging agents as unworthy makes you look an even bigger hypocrite.

You are conveniently ignoring the 20% margin to make your point.

[DodgyAgent]

Rubbish. I'm marketing myself on linkedin. Knowledge of this contract would have come my way possibly a week or two after the agent got hold of it - when I socialised with my friend who is on the project.



Riiiiggggghhhht. That's creative accounting. So I am currently being paid a decent rate and that rewards me for unpaid time on the bench spent skilling up. Therefore my average rate is quite low and your percentage should be based on that average rate rather than the real rate?



I agree the agent should be compensated for his actions. 20% is too greedy and encourages me to do this kind of thing.



Some of them new to the game are clueless with regard to margins and agency tactics. You parasites feed off those.

And who exactly are you to decide that 20% is too greedy? What are you basing this judgement on? Who exactly are you to accuse another business person of being greedy? as you are the proclaimed righteous individual who seems to be so divinely charged with making judgements about others "greed are for example Tesco more or less greedy because they make a 4000% mark up on cabbages?

as far as parasites are concerned what percentage of contractors are naive and new to the market? and how many agencies feed off this group of people?

What you do is entirely your own business, and I will even add that it is naive of the agent to approach you and hand over such information in what is clearly such a closed market. My point however still stands which is that you are an opportunist which makes you no better than the agents you criticise. The fact that you try to justify your own greed by judging agents as unworthy makes you look an even bigger hypocrite.

[aussielong]

The market works in such a way that businesses like yours do not need to spend any money on sales and marketing -what other industry enjoys such a privilige.

Rubbish. I'm marketing myself on linkedin. Knowledge of this contract would have come my way possibly a week or two after the agent got hold of it - when I socialised with my friend who is on the project.

The quid pro quo is that agents when they do place contractors are rewarded to compensate for all the work they do that yields nothing.

Riiiiggggghhhht. That's creative accounting. So I am currently being paid a decent rate and that rewards me for unpaid time on the bench spent skilling up. Therefore my average rate is quite low and your percentage should be based on that average rate rather than the real rate?

Clearly this agent has added value because he has alerted you to an opportunity that by your own admission you did not know about. You seek to justify using the information he has trusted you with to opportunistically feather your own nest.

I agree the agent should be compensated for his actions. 20% is too greedy and encourages me to do this kind of thing.

If agents as you say "feed off" the clueless than what does that say about your fellow contractors? that they are clueless?

Some of them new to the game are clueless with regard to margins and agency tactics. You parasites feed off those.

[DodgyAgent]

Maybe you should focus on decreasing that ratio instead of posting tulip on here.

[AtW]

you take no account of the fact that 90% of what agents do yield no business whatsoever.

Maybe you should focus on decreasing that ratio instead of posting tulip on here.

[DodgyAgent]

The agent is a very nice chap. Do you think that for cruising linkedin and matching my skillset up to the client he deserves 20% of my day rate for 6m+? How can you possibly justify that? I think he deserves maybe to be taken out for dinner, or a one off payment of 200 quid possibly. He would be taking several tens of thousands of pounds out for not more than a few phone calls.

Do you think if I introduced a trader to the bank I could creme 20% of his profits for the time he works here? Most of you so called "agents" feed off the clueless.

I've been cutting the agent out for a few years now because I am lucky enough to work in a small market where I get to hear about the gigs before the agents. This is fair play. The agent has added no value in the market so they are being squeezed out.

(Headhunters / executive search are a different kettle of fish entirely).

You cannot have it both ways. whilst you are correct to say that the amount of work devoted to finding an individual contract is relatively small you take no account of the fact that 90% of what agents do yield no business whatsoever. The market works in such a way that businesses like yours do not need to spend any money on sales and marketing -what other industry enjoys such a privilige. The quid pro quo is that agents when they do place contractors are rewarded to compensate for all the work they do that yields nothing.

Clearly this agent has added value because he has alerted you to an opportunity that by your own admission you did not know about. You seek to justify using the information he has trusted you with to opportunistically feather your own nest.

If agents as you say "feed off" the clueless than what does that say about your fellow contractors? that they are clueless?

You are an arrogant little man who believes he has an "entitlement" to work within his little sector.

[EternalOptimist]

If your mate can get your CV in front of the hiring manager, and if you would have heard about the role through the grapevine anyway, sure, cut out the agent. But dont forget to pay 20% pm to LinkedIn

and it's cream btw

[aussielong]

No this shows that one poster is a bit of a tube.

HTH

Tube? Don't be a hater! I can only offer you love. Here are some tunes for you to enjoy:


Promised Land - Joe Smooth
Open Up - Leftfield and John Lydon
Fleetwood Mac - The Chain (Unklesounds Edit)
INXS - I need you tonight
Show Me Love - Robin S

[aussielong]

Fair enough but by stooping to the professional levels of the most dubious of agents you are now in their league. It seems to me that here was an agent calling about a genuine job and not trying to coerce references or pursue any other agenda than to make his client happy. Along comes some slimey little ex con opportunist to undermine someone who seems perfectly honorable and genuine. You guys get the agents you deserve.

The agent is a very nice chap. Do you think that for cruising linkedin and matching my skillset up to the client he deserves 20% of my day rate for 6m+? How can you possibly justify that? I think he deserves maybe to be taken out for dinner, or a one off payment of 200 quid possibly. He would be taking several tens of thousands of pounds out for not more than a few phone calls.

Do you think if I introduced a trader to the bank I could creme 20% of his profits for the time he works here? Most of you so called "agents" feed off the clueless.

I've been cutting the agent out for a few years now because I am lucky enough to work in a small market where I get to hear about the gigs before the agents. This is fair play. The agent has added no value in the market so they are being squeezed out.

(Headhunters / executive search are a different kettle of fish entirely).

[thunderlizard]

An agent phoned me up about a gig after seeing my linkedin profile.

i.e. he already knew you had a connection with the hiring manager before trying to get you into the role sharpish. Did he stop and think "Is it unethical to get myself in the middle of a supply relationship that already exists? Surely it's only fair to let the client in whose interests I act continue to engage this supplier directly, thus saving them the 20% commission that is only really justifiable by my having introduced the two parties who would not otherwise have found each other"? It appears he did not. Go for it.

[DodgyAgent]

In that case, how come you're my agent????

You've been done

[d000hg]

In that case, how come you're my agent????

The answer to that question is easily answered when we remind ourselves that you're having to work the weekend to get stuff finished in time.

[MarillionFan]

Fair enough but by stooping to the professional levels of the most dubious of agents you are now in their league. It seems to me that here was an agent calling about a genuine job and not trying to coerce references or pursue any other agenda than to make his client happy. Along comes some slimey little ex con opportunist to undermine someone who seems perfectly honorable and genuine. You guys get the agents you deserve.

In that case, how come you're my agent????

[DodgyAgent]

Contractors wouldn't have to resort to being ruthless and cynical if it wasn't for badly behaved agents. Over the years agencies have lost out on a lot of business from me that I'd have been happy to pass on but for their atittude.

Many times I've negotiated directly with the client when an extension was due or by contacting them directly about a role or even the client contacting me for a return gig having been there in the past. Never once had to go through an agency to get paid the client being happy for me to invoice them directly.

Back in the day agencies looked after their contractors but those days have long gone, as you say business is business.

Fair enough but by stooping to the professional levels of the most dubious of agents you are now in their league. It seems to me that here was an agent calling about a genuine job and not trying to coerce references or pursue any other agenda than to make his client happy. Along comes some slimey little ex con opportunist to undermine someone who seems perfectly honorable and genuine. You guys get the agents you deserve.

[suityou01]

An example of such slime bucket behaviour :

Recently I interviewed for a gig, and got it. ClientCo or the agency were dicking me about. No worries as I had another interview line up. I mentioned this and suddenly the slimebucket pulled the finger out.

Then he asked me for the company details of the interview I had pulled out of. I told him to **** off and find his own leads.

Agencies even stiff over their own.